Men, Women and Worthiness: The Experience of Shame and the Power of Being Enough

What does it take to be secure in our sense of belonging and self-worth? We may hustle to attain this security through achievements, meeting expectations, or repeating affirmations to ourselves - but Dr. Brené Brown's research has shown there is ultimately one obstacle to our sense of worthiness. “Shame is the barrier,” she teaches, “and building shame resilience is how we overcome it.”

The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connection, and Courage

On The Power of Vulnerability, Dr. Brown offers an invitation and a promise - that when we dare to drop the armor that protects us from feeling vulnerable, we open ourselves to the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives. Here she dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and reveals that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.

The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting: Raising Children with Courage, Compassion, and Connection

On The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting, Dr. Brené Brown invites us on a journey to transform the lives of parents and children alike. Drawing on her 12 years of research on vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame, she presents ten guideposts to creating what she describes as "wholehearted" families where each of us can continually learn and grow as we reach our full potential.

Rising Strong

The physics of vulnerability is simple: If we are brave enough often enough, we will fall. The author of the number-one New York Times best sellers Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection tells us what it takes to get back up and how owning our stories of disappointment, failure, and heartbreak gives us the power to write a daring new ending. Struggle, Brené Brown writes, can be our greatest call to courage and rising strong our clearest path to deeper meaning, wisdom, and hope.

I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t): Telling the Truth about Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power

Based on seven years of ground-breaking research and hundreds of interviews, I Thought It Was Just Me shines a long-overdue light on an important truth: Our imperfections are what connect us to each other and to our humanity. Our vulnerabilities are not weaknesses; they are powerful reminders to keep our hearts and minds open to the reality that we're all in this together.

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

Each day we face a barrage of images and messages from society and the media telling us who, what, and how we should be. We are led to believe that if we could only look perfect and lead perfect lives, we'd no longer feel inadequate. So most of us perform, please, and perfect, all the while thinking, What if I can't keep all of these balls in the air? Why isn't everyone else working harder and living up to my expectations? What will people think if I fail or give up? When can I stop proving myself?

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

Researcher and thought leader Dr. Brené Brown offers a powerful new vision that encourages us to dare greatly: to embrace vulnerability and imperfection, to live wholeheartedly, and to courageously engage in our lives. In Daring Greatly, Dr. Brown challenges everything we think we know about vulnerability. Based on 12 years of research, her book argues that vulnerability is not weakness but rather our clearest path to courage, engagement, and meaningful connection.

Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind

The relentless pursuit of high self-esteem has become a virtual religion - and a tyrannical one at that. Our ultracompetitive culture tells us we need to be constantly above average to feel good about ourselves, but there is always someone more attractive, successful, or intelligent than we are. And even when we do manage to grab hold of high self-esteem for a brief moment, we can't seem to keep it. Our sense of self-worth goes up and down like a ping-pong ball, rising and falling in lockstep with our latest success or failure.

The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help

In The Art of Asking, Palmer expands upon her popular TED talk to reveal how ordinary people, those of us without thousands of Twitter followers and adoring fans, can use her principles in our own lives to "let people help".

Self-Compassion Step by Step: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself

Why does it feel so natural to be compassionate and kind to those we care about - yet so hard to treat ourselves the same way? "Our culture teaches us to use self-criticism for motivation and to build self-esteem by constantly measuring ourselves against everyone else," says Dr. Kristin Neff. "We need to re-learn the essential skill of being genuinely nurturing and supportive toward ourselves."

It Wasn't Your Fault: Freeing Yourself From the Shame of Childhood Abuse with the Power of Self-Compassion

Shame is one of the most destructive of human emotions. If you suffered childhood physical or sexual abuse, you may experience such intense feelings of shame that it almost seems to define you as a person. In order to begin healing, it's important for you to know that it wasn't your fault. In this gentle guide, therapist and childhood abuse expert Beverly Engel presents a mindfulness and compassion-based therapeutic approach to help you overcome the debilitating shame that keeps you tied to the past.

The Science of Trust: Emotional Attunement for Couples

For the past 35 years, John Gottman’s research has been internationally recognized for its unprecedented ability to precisely measure interactive processes in couples and to predict the long-term success or failure of relationships. In this groundbreaking book, he presents a new approach to understanding and changing couples: a fundamental social skill called “emotional attunement,” which describes a couple’s ability to fully process and move on from negative emotional events, ultimately creating a stronger relationship.

The Journey from Abandonment to Healing: Surviving Through and Recovering from the Five Stages That Accompany the Loss of Love

The Journey from Abandonment to Healing is designed to help all victims of emotional breakups-whether they are suffering from a recent loss or a lingering wound from the past; whether they are caught up in patterns that sabotage their own relationships or they are in a relationship where they no longer feel loved. From the first stunning blow to starting over, this book provides a complete program for abandonment recovery.

Amazon Customer says:"finally! A book for our particular type of grief"

Living and Loving After Betrayal: How to Heal from Emotional Abuse, Deceit, Infidelity, and Chronic Resentment

Betrayal has many faces, including anger, abuse, deceit, and infidelity. These feel like betrayal because they violate the implicit promise of emotional bonds, that your loved one will care about your well-being and never intentionally hurt you. If you've recently left a relationship where you felt betrayed by your partner, you may have difficulty moving on. In fact, it can seem impossible to view the world without the shadow of past betrayal hovering over you. As a result, you may struggle to create meaning in your life and to build new, loving relationships.

The Soul of Money: Reclaiming the Wealth of Our Inner Resources

This unique and fundamentally liberating book shows us that examining our attitudes toward money - earning it, spending it, and giving it away - can offer surprising insight into our lives, our values, and the essence of prosperity. Lynne Twist, a global activist and fundraiser, has raised more than $150 million for charitable causes. Through personal stories and practical advice, she demonstrates how we can replace feelings of scarcity, guilt, and burden with experiences of sufficiency, freedom, and purpose. In this Nautilus Award-winning book, Twist shares from her own life, a journey illuminated by remarkable encounters with the richest and poorest.

The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life

On New Year's Eve, journalist and former Parade editor-in-chief Janice Kaplan makes a promise to be grateful and look on the bright side of whatever happens. She realizes that how she feels over the next months will have less to do with the events that occur than her own attitude and perspective. Getting advice at every turn from psychologists, academics, doctors, and philosophers, she brings listeners on a smart and witty journey to discover the value of appreciating what you have.

On Getting Unstuck, Pema Chodron introduces a rare Tibetan teaching she received from her teacher, Dzigar Kontrul Rinpoche, and one that has become critical to her practice. Here, she unveils the mystery of an ineffable quality; a "pre-emotional" feeling that arises in us, brings us discomfort, and causes us to react by escaping the discomfort, often with harmful habits. With Getting Unstuck, she offers us a first look at "both the itch and the scratch": what Tibetan Buddhists call shenpa.

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

In The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain’s wiring - specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neuro feedback, mindfulness techniques, play, yoga, and other therapies.

Happiness for Beginners

A year after getting divorced, Helen Carpenter, thirty-two, lets her annoying younger brother talk her into signing up for a wilderness survival course. It's supposed to be a chance for her to pull herself together again, but when she discovers that her brother's even more annoying best friend is also coming on the trip, she can't imagine how it will be anything other than a disaster. Thus begins the strangest adventure of Helen's well-behaved life.

Publisher's Summary

We Are Enough: Engaging with the World from a Place of Worthiness

What does it take to be secure in our sense of belonging and self-worth? We may hustle to attain this security through achievements, meeting expectations, or repeating affirmations to ourselves - but Dr. Brené Brown's research has shown there is ultimately one obstacle to our sense of worthiness. “Shame is the barrier,” she teaches, “and building shame resilience is how we overcome it.” With Men, Women, and Worthiness, Dr. Brown draws upon more than 12 years of investigation to reveal how we can disarm the influence of shame to cultivate a life of greater courage, joy, and love. In this rich and heartfelt examination of this pivotal element of happiness, she invites you to explore:

The differences and similarities between the experience of shame for men and women.

Guilt vs. shame - why one is a useful force for growth, while the other keeps us small.

“Whether you are a man, woman, or child, every one of us has the irreducible need for love and belonging,” Dr. Brown teaches. “A sense of self-worth, unhindered by the inner voices of shame, allows us to meet that need.” With the warmth, candor, and humor that has made her a celebrated speaker, Brené Brown offers a road map for navigating the emotions that hold us back-so we can cultivate a life of authenticity and connection.

Brene Brown is great, but sadly, this really has no real new content beyond what you will get in The Power of Vulnerability. If it wasn't so expensive I would be fine with it as it's always a pleasure to listen to her, but this is really not worth the price. It seems like SoundsTrue is just trying to make more money by offering new shorts by Brene that are just more of the same, unfortunately. Just get the latter audio book which is more than 6 hours of teaching, and you'll get all you need on this topic.

Where does Men, Women and Worthiness rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It ranks among in the top 5 of 18 of the audiobooks to which I've listened. I haven't listened to that many, but I have chosen audiobooks very well. This book is excellent.

What did you like best about this story?

That someone else documented the shit with which I live.

What about Brené Brown’s performance did you like?

She was quite a performer. If she hadn't been a white, texan woman with incredible edu cred, I'd have connected a bit better. I'm a white, mid-west, truck driver, with no edu cred, so I automatically hate her and all that she represents. Anyhoo, I liked hearing her. She obviously knows her s*** and her s*** is so my s***.

What did you learn from Men, Women and Worthiness that you would use in your daily life?

I learned some coping stuff, you know.

Any additional comments?

I kid a bit in my responses, but this book was excellent, unless you have not experienced shame......or life, a******.

Shame can have devastating energy and effect, and for me it seems to occur around those people that I love the most. I don't want to hurt or worry them when I am going through these feelings. Brene has helped me understand the ugliest side of shame and has giving me the tools to work through those feelings rather then being ruled by them. After reading this book I was able to give my daughters some examples of my behavior that they had a keen memory of and explained that this book would help them understand why I felt and acted the way I did. I went on to explain to them that if they took the time to read this book they would be exposed to an extremely helpful concept that would help them the rest of their lives. This would help them to not only understand themselves better, but to understand those people around them better.

Which character – as performed by Brené Brown – was your favorite?

It is so helpful that Brene is so honest and open about her own experiences. I felt like I was in the room with her and felt such empathy for her story. It allowed me to feel empathy for my own memories in which I still feel shame.

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

The concept of turning shame into anger and lashing out helped me to understand my own behaviors and those of people close to me. I was able to forgive and understand some comments that had been said to me from my mother. I now understand that these hurtful comments were about her own feelings of shame.

It was also so helpful to hear about men's shame. This gave me very useful insight into what drives us in our relationships. It gave me the ability to have much more empathy for men, but for all people really.

If you could sum up Men, Women and Worthiness in three words, what would they be?

Was very glad that this book was recommended to me! And wished I hadn't waited to listen to it. But I'm glad that i finnaly did. Brene Brown uses some of her own storys from her life to help relate the information that she is explaining. I listen to the book and there is a lot of info in there that I listen to it again back to back. And I'm listing to her other books and love all that I have listened to. For me you can't go wrong listing to her books. We all deal with shame and she to me has been the only one to address this. Thanks to Brene Brown for looking into men and how we deal with shame! I love the info that I got from her book.Please keep them coming!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Brene Brown

Which character – as performed by Brené Brown – was your favorite?

Herself

What insight do you think you’ll apply from Men, Women and Worthiness?

I would listen to this book again. The book was pretty good but kind of short. The book almost totally focused on shame and not much on worthiness. I think she could have added more about dealing with shame and less about what shame is. I liked her naration.

Who was your favorite character and why?

NA

Which character – as performed by Brené Brown – was your favorite?

NA

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I admit it, I cant't get enough of Brene. I love listening to her. I almost didn't get this book because some reviewers wanted more new stuff. What I want is to more fully understand her concepts of love and belonging and shame. She does reuse some stories but adds additional details too. Like the guy who approached her at a book signing. This repetition helped me to be more reflective. Can't wait for her new book, especially since Brene will be reading/performing.

This tape is such a fascinating talk. It is like a smart, deep but relaxed conversation with a good friend who is receiving all their wisdom to you. It has given me great insight into the shame spiral that has many of us in it's grips. Shame it is just 2hrs long! ;)

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Bernice

United Kingdom

7/17/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"A Repeat"

This is not as good as 'The Power of Vulnerability' and unfortunately is a precis of some of the things she talks about in that audiobook. I would recommend that audiobook.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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